Not Great, Bob

***WARNING: YOU ARE NOW ENTERING A WRESTLING NERD DISCUSSION ZONE!!! PLEASE KEEP ALL EYES AND EARS INSIDE OF KAYFABE AT ALL TIMES!!!***

Anyone who says that the chance for Bayley and Sasha Banks‘ friendship to fully dissolve has already past was likely doing so with the presupposition that Sasha would be the one who finally snapped. Having Bayley be the one who broke the dam places a whole other layer of intrigue over the proceedings, as well as a fresh start for everyone involved and an edge to someone we never ever thought would get one.

That it’s a culmination of a month’s long back-and-forth, that itself is part of a much longer timeline of begrudging respect blossoming into a friendship, is the kind of long-term storytelling that the WWE needs significantly more of. The visceral reaction that Bayley had allows them a thousand different directions to go, only half of which end with Bayley asking “Are we the baddies?”.

Which is a significant change of pace from most of the characters in the women’s division, who more often than not are written (outside of Sasha Banks, the exception which proves the rule) as either entirely on the side of angels or demons. There are no half measures or full-blown tweeners in the women’s division, in large part because building in that level of nuance would require way more screentime than they get now. And barring some kind of major overhaul of the show, that seems highly improbable.

So, for now, we just get Sasha and Bayley beating the shit out of each other, which could be worse. How you ask? Probably some convoluted story involving couples therapy, mandated by Kurt Angle in his first official act as GM of Raw. (Wait… he’s been GM for… how long? JFC. That’s terrible. This whole time I thought he was the janitor.)

Though, in a weird way, the couples therapy angle makes sense, if less from Sasha’s perspective than Bayley’s. Bayley’s hyper aggressive attacks on Sasha have largely occurred outside the context of a match or even the ring area and, while the “do you even care about the Women’s evolution” bullshit Kurt was spewing makes literally no sense, Bayley’s repeatedly acted in a highly disruptive way that has established an unsafe working environment for Sasha. Hopefully something comes of Sasha’s side of things that explains why she’s also being sent with her abuser to therapy, or at least a better one that a DotCom exclusive that seemingly adds nothing the proceedings.

And, I swear to the Lord, Jesus, I will fight someone if they don’t bring back Dr. Shelby, this will be my reaction: